Thursday, June 3, 2010

Greek unions at play

On Thursday, the country’s generally docile tourism workers’ union planned to officially announce strike plans for later this month — their first in ages. But somebody there overlooked the fact that Greece’s journalists union was striking on the same day, in a move likely to generate an empty press haul for the tourism union’s big moment. When nobody showed up, the news conference was canceled and rescheduled for Friday.

More generally, do the Greek unions have any idea how ridiculous and self-defeating their behavior looks to outsiders?

One hopes that the events of the past few months can provide an opportunity to change the political and social equilibrium in Greece in ways that will bring greater honesty and a deeper attachment to the realities of economic life as well as, in the medium and long runs, greater economic growth, but this is by no means a sure thing.